Who, every word by all my wit being scann'd, Luc. Fy, brother! how the world is chang'd with you; When were you wont to use my fifter thus ? S. Dro. By me? Adr. By thee; and thus thou didst return from him, That he did buffet thee; and in his blows Deny'd my house for his, me for his wife. Ant. Did you converfe, Sir, with this gentlewoman? What is the courfe and drift of your compact ? S. Dro. I, Sir? I never faw her 'till this time. Ant. Villain, thou lieft; for even her very words Didit thou deliver to me on the 'mart, S. Dro. I never spoke with her in all my life. Adr. How ill agrees it with your gravity, Who, all for want of pruning, with intrufion Infect thy fap, and live on thy confufion. Ant. To me the speaks; the moves me for her theam: What, was I marry'd to her in my dream? -you are from me exempt.] Exempt, feparated, parted. The fenfe is, If I am doomed to fuffer the wrong of feparation, yet injure not with contempt me who am already injured. Or Or fleep I now, and think I hear all this? I'll entertain the favour'd fallacy. Luc. Dromio, go bid the fervant fpread for dinner. S. Dro. Oh, for my beads! I crofs me for a finner. This is the Fairy land: oh, fpight of fpights! We talk with goblins, owls, and elvish sprights; If we obey them not, this will enfue, They'll fuck our breath, and pinch us black and blue. Luc. Why prat'ft thou to thyfelf, and anfwer'st not $? Dromio, thou drone, thou fnail, thou flug, thou fot! S. Dro. We talk with goblins, owls, and elvish Sprights;] Here Mr. Theobald calls out in the name of Nonfenfe, the first time he had formally invoked her, to tell him how Owls could fuck their breath, and pinch them black and blue. He, therefore, alters Owls to Ouphs, and dares fay, that his readers will acquiefce in the juftness of his emendation. But, for all this, we must not part with the old reading. He did not know it to be an old popular fuperftition, that the fcretchowl fucked out the breath and blood of infants in the cradle. On this account, the Italians called Witches, who were fuppofed to be in like manner mifchievously bent against children, Strega, from Strix, the Scretchowl. This fuperftition they had derived from their Pagan anceftors, as appears from this paffage of Ovid, Sunt avida volucres; non quæ inde trahunt. Grande caput: ftantes oculi: rofira apta rapina: Canities pennis, unguibus hamus ineft. Note volant, PUBROSQUE PETUNT nutricis egentes; Et vitiant CUNIs corpora rapta fuis. Carpere dicuntur lacentia viscera roftris; Et plenum poto fanguine guttur babent. Eft illis ftrigibus nomen : →→→→→ Lib. 6. Feft.' WARBURTON Why prat'ft thou to thyself? Dromio, thou Dromio, fnail, theu flug, thou fot!] In the first of thefe Lines Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope have both, for what Reafon I cannot tell, curtail'd the Measure, and difmounted the doggrel Rhyme, which I have replac'd from the firft Folio. The fecond Verfe is there likewise read; Dromio, thou Dromio, thou The S. Dro. I am transformed, mafter, am not I? S. Dro. No; I am an ape. Luc. If thou art chang'd to aught, 'tis to an afs. S. Dro. 'Tis true; fhe rides me, and I long for grafs. 'Tis fo, I am an afs; But I fhould know her, else it could' never be, as well as fhe knows me. Adr. Come, come, no longer will I be a fool, porter well. S. Dro. Mafter, fhall I porter at the gate? The Verfe is thus half a Foot tions of Reproach. THEOBALD. 9 And forive you-] That is, I will call you to confeffion, and make you tell your tricks. ACT A C T III, SCENE I. The Street before Antipholis's Houfe. Enter Antipholis of Ephefus, Dromio of Ephefus, Angelo, and Balthazar. G E. ANTIPHOLIS. OOD Signior Angelo, you must excufe us; And that to-morrow you will bring it home. Thou drunkard, thou, what didst thou mean by this? E. Dro. Say what you will, Sir; but I know what 1. know; That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to show; If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave were ink, Your own hand-writing would tell you what I think. E. Ant. I think, thou art an ass. E. Dro. Marry, fo it doth appear By the wrongs I fuffer, and the blows I bear; I should tainly, This is Crofs-purposes in Reafoning. It appears, Drumio is an Afs by his making no Refiftance: becaufe an Afs, being kick'd, kicks again. Our Author never argues at this wild Rate, where his Text is genuine. THEOBALD. I do not think this emenda- I should kick, being kickt; and, being at that pass, You would keep from my heels, and beware of an ass. E. Ant. Y'are fad, Signior Balthazar. Pray God, our cheer May answer my good will, and your good welcome here. Bal. I hold your dainties cheap, Sir, and your welcome dear. E. Ant. Ah, Signior Balthazar, either at flesh or fifh, A table-full of welcome makes fcarce one dainty dish. Bal. Good meat, Sir, is common: that every churl affords. E. Ant. And welcome more common; for that's nothing but words. Bal. Small cheer, and great welcome, makes a merry feaft. E. Ant. Ay, to a niggardly host, and more sparing guest: But tho' my cates be mean, take them in good part; Better cheer may you have, but not with better heart. But, foft; my door is lockt; go bid them let us in. E. Dro. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian, Ginn! S. Dro. (within) Mome, malt-horfe, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch! Either get thee from the door, or fit down at the hatch: Doft thou conjure for wenches, that thou call❜ft for fuch store, When one is one too many? go, get thee from the door. E. Dró. What patch is made our porter? my mafter ftays in the street. S. Dro. Let him walk from whence he came, left he catch cold on's feet. tion neceffary. He firft fays, that his wrongs and blows prove him an af; but immediately, with a correction of his former fentiment, fuch as may be hour 2 ly obferved in converfation, he obferves, that, if he had been an afs, he fhould, when he was kicked, have kicked again. E. Ant. |